My thoughts on the #AfrigoAt48 Experience

Dear AfrigoBand,  I thank you, I honor you for the great music that is even older than myself. As a reference to Uganda’s live music, as well as, musical performance and entertainment culture,  you are it!!  

As in, they are a musical collective that has maintained fluency and identity in the Ugandan music culture industry. 

Therefore, TalentAfrica’s decision to produce Afrigo@48 must be applauded. 

Maam Joanita Kawalya, I love you.  Nzempedembe was the first track by you that  I heard blasting off speakers in the neighbourhood. It was also, my first time, hearing Luganda in a flattering way_ As a language of expression:  Not manipulation. 

I love what you have become, to posit as a musician, who is female and cultural. Your track record demonstrates that a female can maintain integrity,  grit, respect and identity as a musician. 

In this regard, I have never heard of, or read about a scandal that has been tied to your name. Nor have I seen or read about you anywhere, as being in competition with a fellow musician, who is female_ about who is better:  Or, even flaunting your material riches as achievements.

 If any of these temptations have harassed your practice,  you have achieved or managed them away from the marauding, toxic sensationalism of social media. 

Dear Rachel Magoola, I love that you are a musician, who is also a politician…..Even me, I am acquainted with you. Thank goodness, that that #28gaugemaabatiscandal  did not include your name on the list of receivers!!! 

Every time I see you on stage or off stage, you have clear, neat boundaries between the politics of your constituency and your premise in music and entertainment practice. 

The second time I ever saw a saxophonist, it was Moses Matovu at Club Obligato whom I watched_ heard. This was after the prisons band, which I grew up watching in practice.

I have also never heard of him, or about him being in a fistfight with another musician. Let alone seen footage of him bartering his partners in the name of masculinity. 

The song #SpeediKendezaKo was the other track by Afrigo that blew away my mind when I heard it. For many years, I thought that the lyrics of  #OliyigaDiiGwenyaboOkufuumba was just about culinary critique from a man to a woman. Afrigo Band thus, sings about explicit things without charring our minds with graphic imagery of ‘the thing’. 

In 2008_ I think, I was asked to thematically open the East African Fine Coffees Conference, EAFCA. For my performance of poetry, I collaborated with Saidi, the other saxophonist in Afrigo. As well as with Ssewanyana Herman on drums. 

Anyway, these are some of the reasons why  I bought my ticket to go celebrate Afrigo@48. 

Now, going back to a conversation that was begun last week by Jazz Safari;  when the audience does pay for a musical experience, there are obligations on the artists which come with charging for their show. 

Audience Experience: 

In as much as I am happy that ticket sales were a success, it was a letdown for silver ticket holders to be squashed like passengers in an up-country matatu. 

Similarly,  the production team could have positioned the stage where the 75,000 tickets were, thereby taking advantage of the natural slope at the Sheraton Kampala managed gardens, to provide a 360-degree, view for over 75% of the audience. Even from the silver section, people struggled to see, or move.

What I saw of the 75,000/= ticket section was even worse. There was no space to allow for movement and dance. This should have been planned. 

The blank moments in between could have also been managed better with meaningful fillers.  For instance, although Eddie Yawe has popular music that the audience danced to, his abrupt appearance on stage missed the relevance to me for the show, that was Afrigo@48 for me.  What was that about?! 

Uganda really needs to invest and commit to audience experience and event curation at musical events. Audiences make the show, honor their presence and money with experiential excellence.

Sound: 

The wince from Joanita Kawalya when she got on stage, at the bad sound: Or, an upset Moses Matovu trying to ascertain the problem while she was on stage and the sound hiccuped was not lost to the eye. This sound challenge should have been discovered during technical rehearsal and rectified. Was there a technical rehearsal at all?!  I wonder. 

Regardless of how many years you have played and managed your sound, this was a new venue, stage and sound provider. I saw at least three days of stage buildup, what happened to sound management?  

Plus,  those crazy off-key moments with the guitarists leading and the band quickly struggling to return to course…Or, Joanita resetting the key and tempo…were there some crucial rehearsal moments missed?! 

Afrigo Band and Awilo Longoma

To be honest, Afrigo@48 commands its own audience. Awilo Longoma as an artist will also sell out any venue in Uganda. The attempted courtship or, marriage though between Afrigoband and Awilo Longoma, did not work. For it to have worked, there should have at least been a collaborative song done prior. That process would have created the needed experience for the band to learn, understand his music and….. play it better. 

His equally disappointed self made the comment akin to a cynical disclaimer; ‘Its their first time to play my music, they have tried… ‘. 

The way the band played his music was a letdown with the missed progressing moments and anticlimax. It sounded like Awilo had been forced on them to play. 

In my opinion, the decision to make Afrigoband backup Awilo was an ill-advised and executed decision. For they are two, very different, big, legendary artists.

You can not expect to ignore and get away with the thing about artists…Ego.You either appease that ego to a point, or do two separate shows_ well. 

There are one or two Congolese specialist bands in Uganda, that I have heard and, watched play covers of Awilos music to a tee. Why weren’t they contracted to cover Awilo? … I am assuming in this instance that flying over Awilo’s band was too expensive. Doing this would have taken the pressure off Afrigo to deliver another artist whilst, under pressure to deliver their own show. And, three songs were too few from Awilo. 

Costumes: 

The costumes of the band were a good improvement. For the dancers though, the high school costume project look can be improved. And now that they have improved greatly in movement choreography and execution, Sarah Tendo, a few new variations will go along way in curing the monotony. The fluidity of movement, sync and excellence is beautiful.

Curation: 

You know….I must ask who curated this evening and day. If I had curated it, which I didn’t, I would have included the following activities: 

There is that book by a Dutch writer which, chronicles a big part of Afrigo’s musical journey. These books were not available on-site or as a book signing event with symposia earlier in the day. I mean, Afrigo is literally a walking encyclopedia of Uganda’s, contemporary musical journey. 

At 48 years, I would have included this as part of the experience. Hopefully, this will be included at the next experience. 

Similarly, there is the Documentary, Bwana Joggo,  partly worked on by Cyril Ducottet. Segmented parts of this documentary could have been screened as fillers to add depth to the experience. This documentary features a lot of Afrigo Band. 

I saw a post by Karuhanga Mwine Abangira about media mistreatment.  What happened to reprinting all news bites and articles through the years about Afrigo into a booklet that would be handed out or sold at the event? Media and journalists have documented their journey extensively. 

Lastly, Afrigoband and Moses Matovu won a Janzi 2021 Award. Where was the Janzi collaboration? Or, all the collaborations/collaborators through the years with various musicians? Why didn’t we see any on stage? 

Being that this is a first celebration, I hope that Afrigo@49 will incorporate these missed value-addition points into the production. In other words, Talent Africa, this is an amazing endeavour. Improve. 

I thank the entire team for getting it done. Next year will be better, should there be a next year. Lengends of their stature deserve better curation and production delivery.